Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Tourism is New York's second largest industry and surviving a ban which will in the short term give rise to a problem. Somebody said the Luxembourgers drink more than we do. They may but one will not find the scenes of appalling disorder on the streets of Luxembourg on a Saturday night that one finds here. It is our form of drinking that is becoming a problem. We will have to deal with this.

The Minister of State mentioned the wonderful progress made in terms of students. While there has been progress, I have an anecdote which demonstrates that we have a long way to go. There is a pub in Cork located quite close to one of the third level institutions. A friend of mine and his partner entered the pub and the man ordered a pint and his wife asked for a non-alcoholic beer. The response of the barman was to explain that as it was a student pub, nothing like that was sold there. While it does not prove anything, that is as good an anecdote as is needed to illustrate the problems we have with alcohol.

I am intrigued by the fact that only in County Mayo are there significant numbers of publicans who serve people who are under age. Only in that county have there been a significant number of closures of licensed premises for selling drink to those under age. The alternative explanation that the Garda is not enforcing the law elsewhere cannot really be offered. According to the Minister's statistics, only in County Mayo has there been a significant number of pub closures. It is a very formidable and serious sanction which should be in use in all our cities and towns to make the point we need to make over and over again.

I am always intrigued by the way in which we are far more inclined to be prescriptive and puritanical about alcohol than about tobacco. Tobacco has killed 250,000 people in this country in the past 50 years, which is an incredible number. We are all prepared to be really puritanical about alcohol because there is a little bit of pleasure involved, but tobacco is seen as self-torture or something similar and, therefore, less worthy of attention. Tobacco kills people to no purpose. Alcohol, used in reasonable quantities, not only does not kill people but it enhances life. This is a fundamental difference, but we are far more willing to be prescriptive about alcohol than tobacco. This fundamental issue has to be addressed by the Oireachtas.

People are entitled to smoke, but it escapes me why they should be more entitled to do so than to consume cannabis. However, that is the law of the land. People are entitled to smoke but not entitled to impose their smoke on anybody who works with them or who shares, involuntarily, any space with them. That is the fundamental issue.